Retribution
by AMALGAMATIN
Summary: Near and the team have finally defeated Kira, humiliating him. They can now rest easy knowing that the world's most dangerous killer is under six feet of dirt. Light died knowing that his plan failed and that the people to blame were still alive. Reaching from the grave, he decides to give them their righteous retribution. Set in an alternate Death Note universe.
1. Chapter 1

Matsuda gingerly poked the body with his foot, rolling it over on its back. He grimaced at the bullet holes that riddled the disgusting corpse, stepping back, helping himself resist the urge to puke at Light Yagami's dead face and body. It had taken months of investigation and hours upon hours of research and grueling, down-to-earth police work, but it was finally done – the terrible and fearsome killer, the famous KIRA, had been captured and killed.

Aizawa stood next to him. "Matsuda…"

"What?!" Matsuda snapped back.

Aizawa was silent for a moment. Then, "That wasn't quite necessary. We had him, he had nowhere to go, the Shinigami couldn't help him – heck, it was helping us – and we almost got cuffs on him. If you hadn't- "

"Aizawa, he was going to kill us! We had worked with him this entire time, as a team, people who could count on each other. He didn't care about any of that the whole time! Why should this…" He stuttered. "…this thing, why should it get to…" Matsuda quieted. "Never mind. Let's just get him and go."

They focused their attention on the body, bent down, and, with a grunt and a heave, lifted him up and walked back toward the scene of the crime.

The warehouse loomed in the distance as they took step after step past buildings, until they finally were at the door of the warehouse. Matsuda looked in, remembering the carnage that had occurred only thirty minutes before, and shuddered. His heart hadn't stopped beating fast since then. He reassured himself. At least Light…is dead now. He can't hurt anyone anymore."

Matsuda turned away.

And was then greeted by an enchanting and mischievous voice that called out, "Where are you going Matsuda?"

Matsuda whipped around, gun out of his holster, then stopped. He stared, hovering in between disbelief and shock. The gun almost slipped out of his hand, but he gulped and gripped it harder. The man standing inside the window frame smiled at him, inviting him in with a wave of his hand. Matsuda had killed this man thirty minutes ago.

"Come in," Light Yagami said.


	2. Chapter 2

"Oh my god- "

Matsuda could just barely hear Giovanni's voice swearing. He heard footsteps pounding towards him, and braced his arm to prevent entry. Giovanni collided into him, caught his breath, and then delivered, "It's possible that Light's still- " He paused, seeing Light. "-alive."

Calling behind him, Giovanni yelled, "Near, come here, we need you!"

Near calmly walked to them, stating, "I hope it isn't because you want me to clean up the crumbs I left from my snack, because there are a lot of them. Not exactly how I thought I would spend the next few hours, you kn- " Seeing Light, he pushed past them and, for the first time in his life, visibly showed surprise. "But you're- "

"Dead? That's what I wanted you to think." He was silent, clearly waiting for the inevitable questions and inquiries.

Near clenched his fists, then unclenched them imperceptibly. "Now that you're clearly alive, I would like to know exactly who you forced to take your place as the fake Light."

Aizawa, mouth agape, murmured, "Near, how do you know that this isn't an impostor? I know that Matsuda emptied out a whole cartridge on this boy. He can't be alive. It must be a trick."

"Don't be daft, Aizawa," Near snapped impatiently. "You don't need to be a genius to figure this out." At this, no more sounds came out from Aizawa's mouth.

Light broke in. "I'll explain for you, Aizawa. Giovanni there had found out that I replaced myself with another young man similar to me in both stature and speech and with the same mannerisms. I simply constructed a copy of my face and surgically placed it on top of his own. However, in order to not give myself away, I had a microphone placed in his ear before the surgery so I could tell him just what to say."

Near frowned. "But how would you have known that this would all be necessary?"

"I am the god of the new world!" Light boomed. "Of course I would not leave everything up to a lowly servant such as Mikami, who could easily make a mistake. I and I alone am responsible for the creation of my world." Light paused. "So I predicted this would happen, along with one hundred other similar scenarios, and prepared for the likeliest one. This one."

Near grudgingly admitted, "I made a mistake. I thought that you would not have a plan to counter my counter-plan, but it seems you did that and more. You knew I would tamper with the whole Death Note. But we have the Death Note now. You have still lost."

Light looked at him with a tilted head, puzzled. He asked, "Is that so? Why don't you check with your friends on whether or not you're right?"

Near's eyebrows scrunched together, concentrating, and in the space of a tenth of a second, realized what Light was insinuating. Hoping against hope but knowing he was wrong, he turned around with a loud, "Nooooooo …..!"

When he completed a rotation, he only stopped and stared. His eyes fixed on the dead bodies of the SPK and the Japanese Task Force.

Near shook, his body attempting to rid itself of the memory of their bodies and the blank expressions on their faces. He hunched low to the ground, staring at Matsuda. His eyes slowly descended until they were staring directly at Matsuda's gun. Near picked it up, cocked it, then swung around and fired. Light dropped out of sight behind the window, leaving only a cackling laughter in its place. Near looked at the gun in his hand, then fired into the ground. _Light_, he thought. _You will die_.

Precisely at that moment, a notebook plopped onto the ground next to Mogi.


	3. The Sinister Shinigami

Near smiled sickly. A glow from within illuminated his skin, giving Near a supernatural quality. The Shinigami hovered only a few feet above his head, slowly lowering itself until its feet just barely scrapped the surface of the floor.

Near said, "To whom have I the honor of speaking to?"

It replied, "Sidoh."

Near asked, unsure for the first time in his life. "Why did you give me this? You did give it to me, right?"

Sidoh didn't speak for a second. Then he began, "I have a vendetta against a certain Shinigami….he goes by the name of Ryuk. Currently, he is working with Light Yagami." A pause. "Let me get this straight. I only did this because I need you. I need someone smart. I don't know what Ryuk is trying to accomplish, and I don't know how. By stopping Light I can stop Ryuk. And you can help me destroy Light Yagami. Will you help me?"

Near hesitated. He thought of the bodies of people he could call 'friends,' and it became slightly easier. Slightly. "Of…of course. We should start by luring him out. It won't be as easy as when the investigation first started. He knows I'm alive and he remembers all our tactics from before. Let's do** this**…"

Light glanced at the television as he silently ate dinner with his sister and mother.

Realizing that his unusual silence might cause his family unnecessary worry, he began to speak nonsense about the ridiculous American singing show his sister was currently consuming with her head glued to the TV. "I really love how American Idol always manages to find fresh talent."

A large and fake smile that Light was accustomed to wearing appeared on his face. "It's invigorating!" Inside Light was just shaking his head. "But could I just check for any other shows that might be of interest?"

"Sure."

Light's facial expressions did not change, but just beneath, his mind was working. _Near is going to want to come after me as soon as he can. There must be some sort of trap that he'll broadcast._

Light pretended to randomly scroll through the channels, but in reality, he was scanning all the news stations in the fastest way possible without being suspicious. Finally, he found what he was looking for.

"- believe that the murderer may be Kira. The Japanese Task Force has not released a statement, a highly odd lack of action. Police state that they are currently inves- "

Light smiled. _So that's his game. This is clearly supposed to incite me. However. Near knows little about how I think. He's inferior compared to L. This will be easier than I expected._

"Mom, I'm going upstairs to finish studying."

Without looking at him, his mom said that was alright.

Light washed his bowl that was full of crumbs. Taking the stairs, he entered his room and shut the door behind himself with a click. "Time to get to work, 'ya Shinigami. We can't afford to get lazy, as my plan is almost to fruition."

A silence. Finally, "I thought you would never get up here. I almost got bored. And you don't want that, do you, Light?"  
"I promise that'll never happen."

At this it gave out a cackle. "It'll only never happen if you give me apples every hour, on the hour, of the day. Do you promise that as well?"

"Of course I do…Sidoh."


	4. World's Most Interesting Human

"What are some more names of criminals whom Near wished to kill?" Light asked, grinning meanly.

Sidoh rattled them off. "Norishige Iesada, Chikafusa Matsushima, Yoshitake…" As Sidoh continued to list the names of criminals that Near wanted dead, Light laughed and laughed and laughed at the irony of the thing. Near was helping Light kill people!

Thirty-five minutes later, it was finished.

The Death Note, that evil weapon of mass murder, sat on the table of Light Yagami as he completed his favorite pastime. Sidoh looked over Light's shoulder. Tilting his head, he asked, "Why is it that you wrote ten names other than the ones I spoke of?"

"Well, that's because Near would be suspicious if I suddenly stopped killing those who would act as they shouldn't. This way, I can make Near believe that he actually is killing people as well as me, when in fact, it is just myself."

Light nodded toward Sidoh in gratitude. "Thanks to you and Ryuk, I'm one step closer to discovering Near's name and killing him and the history he brings with him, once and for all. Speaking of Ryuk...Ryuk!"

Ryuk melted out of the shadows and stepped into the light, his lanky black legs rippling as they made contact with the floor of Light's bedroom.

"Right now would be great."

Wordlessly and grumpier than usual, Ryuk departed downstairs.

Sidoh watched him go. "Didn't you just make him go out and research that topic we were talking about? Why are you making him leave again?"

Light said carelessly, "He isn't going far," and left it at that. Scribbles filled more of the bursting-to-the-brim notebook as Light quickly wrote names down with varying dates of death. Not content with that answer, Sidoh persisted. "What do you mean?"

"He's wiping my family's memories of me," Light stated, as if the answer was obvious.

"Why?"

"So that, if asked, they'll claim that I was missing since yesterday."

Noticing Sidoh's questioning glance, Light resumed, "Which will send Near off on the wrong trail and give me more time for the plan. All the while, I'll be residing in the place he'll least expect – my own house."

"But how will he wipe your mother and sister's memories? I'm still confused on that."

"Well you see," Light said, "I subletted ownership of one of my Death Notes to both of them through Ryuk. Right now I'm having Ryuk give ownership of the note back to me. This enables me to essentially wipe their memory of the note, and, to a lesser extent, me."

"You've forgotten one of the rules of the Death Note, Light. How careless of you. Users of the Death Note only lose memories of their contact with the Death Not- "

"I know, actually," Light said. "You weren't downstairs so you couldn't have known, but I gave them contact with the Death Note the whole time. I told them I could kill people with it and let them touch it. Of course they didn't believe me, but..."

Sidoh nodded in understanding. "Oh, I get it! So throughout your contact with your family, you were synchronizing their memories of you with their memories of the Death Note." He shook his head in amazement. "Ryuk was correct. You are…a very interesting human."


	5. Eye of the Storm

Near huddled on the small rotating chair, gripping the table tightly. He sat across from the car-traffic controller, who was irritatingly tapping his pen on the desk. Sure Near had some pretty odd habits and mannerisms, like playing with little dolls of his friends and enemies, but this was just ridiculous! The man's tapping only served to annoy, not entertain! Finally, the man began to speak again. "About your request…you see, these cameras are to stop traffic gridlock and monitor everything that goes around on these roads." He paused, making sure that Near was listening, then continued. "Not to snoop on other people. If you were asking for something I could grant, like reading license plates…that doesn't invade others' privacy. But this does. I'm sorry."

Near, having anticipated such an obstacle, pulled out a fake Japanese Task Force license and held it up to the man's face.

The car-traffic controller changed his tune at the sight of it, turned around, accessed the video traffic records, and gestured for Near to join him. Near smiled to himself, scooted over, and watched.

He looked back at Sidoh just to confirm if he was still there and also watching the tape, and saw that Sidoh had been floating next to him the whole time. Reassured, Near looked back at the tape, searching with burning panda-eyes for any signs of an escaping Light Yagami. He had fifty-four more similar tasks to complete.

Sidoh flew down to join Light Yagami. It was a new day, but Light was shut inside his house, trying to make the least noise possible in order to avoid waking his family. He hunkered down over his work, ensuring that both his inconspicuous kills and Near's kills were carried out.

He asked Sidoh, "What's Near doing currently?"

Sidoh replied, "You were right. He was checking the road intersections with cameras leading out of Japan. He thinks you're trying to make a run for it."

Light frowned, then laughed. Huge chuckles erupted out of his clenched stomach, and as he struggled for breath, he laughed even harder. "Me?" He grinned, his hand on his gut, holding his laughter in. "Running away?" His laughter died down, and his face took on a cast of anger and madness. "Run away…I do not run away. I am a GOD! I am Kira, and I shall not be underestimated like this." Silence for a second. "But that does work to my advantage…Near. Soon my plan will be complete, and you will live a fate worse than death!"


	6. Caught in the Act

**Here's the update Fluffy Hug!**

**Let me know how it is so far and what I can change, guys. If that doesn't happen, I'll just keep chugging along, writing the chapters. Huge thanks to Fluffy Hug (as mentioned before; I like your pic by the way) for the review and encouraging comments. I'd also like to thank all the fav (fav people?) and followers who picked this one fanfic out of a bunch of Death Note fanfic. **

**Just wanted to let you know about Near's character - I'd like to think that his transformation into a psychopath makes sense, but it requires a little bit of imagination. Also, he's a lot more dumb in this reincarnation of Death Note, because I want Light to win…but who knows? And if he does lose, I want him to die in an epic manner. **

**Bye…and here we go!**

Light clicked enter at the international chat box. The information zoomed through the internet. He also went to one of the most important websites in the world, , and typed the condemning evidence into the chat section.

Light smiled. _Now for the TV news…_He got up, kicking the chair back, swiveled, and called aloud, "Ryuk. Sidoh."

They answered.

Light's eyes glinted, and if someone could see him, they would have sworn that his eyes were a blood red that chilled the soul. "Let's go."

Near's eyes almost joined, and his eyelids met slightly. He started, then admonished himself for falling asleep at the witching hour, for a detective must be ready at any time. He looked at the snoring traffic controller – a woman this time – and remarked in his head how similar they looked: all of them were old with a slight pouch of fat. Only the genders changed.

Putting his mind back to the task at hand, he focused on the rack of computer screens that covered the wall to Near's front. Checking each one for a sign of Light, he could see nothing. Resigned to the fact that he would have to try the other twenty traffic control stations, he sighed, took his resting cheek off his hand, and was about to turn around when he caught a waving Light Yagami next to a telephone pole out of the corner of his eye.

Instead of panicking he immediately isolated the location out of thirty others and found out where Light was. He frowned. "That's Musashino…"

_It is also near the place he 'died.' And just standing out in the open? That's too obvious for someone as careful and intelligent as Light Yagami. It's a trap._

Suddenly the screen went black.

Near stared at it.

_Now I know it is a trap. It's no use checking the exits – I have a feeling he's come to finish what he's started. He only needs my name and then I'm finished. With the Shinigami eyes, I would be dead in the space it takes to write my own name. I can't be seen._

The screen next to the black screen turned gray, then blanked to black. Then the one adjacent to that one turned black, then the one next to that, until all the screens were black.

_He's cutting the wires leading to this control station!_ Near leaped out of the chair, took a disguise out of his pocket (a brown wig and sunglasses) and bounded out of the room. _He must be here, that, or he is controlling a tiny, advanced-technology bot and making it cut the power_. Near smiled_. Either way, he's mine._

Flinging his gun out of the holster he brought, he ran through the door leading to the power circuits and went down the stairs, taking two at a time. In proper police form, he cleared the rooms until he was standing before the main door. Beyond it lay the power box.

_Alright. The car-traffic controller stated earlier that there was only herself and another woman, and they took turns watching over the traffic. There should only be either Light Yagami or a mechanized bot behind this door._

Decided, he kicked the door open.

He immediately saw a middling man with a beard and wire cutters, who was destroying the power circuits. Seeing Near, the man bared his teeth and lunged at him with a threatening yell.

_What? That's not Light Yagami_.

Remembering a rule from the Death Note, he palmed his face, shot the man in the foot to put him out of commission, and ran out of the room.

_The Death Note can force people to do things before they die! Light must have made that man destroy the electricity so I would be distracted. There must be another purpose that he has in mind. He doesn't seem to want to kill me…there's something more!_

Near was in such a hurry that he did not see the video camera tape the entire incident.


	7. A New Start

_I want to humiliate Light again by shooting him and then bringing him before a court, but it looks like that that might not work_, Near thought as he ran. _I might have to use the notebook to kill Light, but I'd rather watch him suffer and lose everything he covets and loves…..then, preferably, he'd die. _

Near smirked. Holstering his gun and hiding it under his shirt, he hailed a taxi, uttered two words, and was on his way.

He got out at the entrance to the Yagami household. Immaculate hedges adorned the edges of the building, and the lawn appeared freshly clipped. When Near rang the doorbell, it let out a pleasant bird sound.

Near waited. After ringing it two more times, he let out a sigh and tried the door.

It opened.

Quiet and suspicious, Near stepped in. Navigating around a table that he guessed to be where the Yagami family ate their meals, he managed to get around it before being confronted by a bookshelf that blocked most of the hallway to the rooms. Near turned sideways and inserted himself between the bookshelf and wall in a manner similar to Yugi's when he inserted the puzzle pieces into the Millenium Puzzle.

Pressing himself against the wall, he slid towards the innermost parts of the house. Finally reaching the end of the bookshelf, Near stumbled out of the tight squeeze. Once steady, he took out his gun, stepped into the first room to his left, and swayed.

His eyes widened in shock and a surprised admiration.

Light stepped forward until he stood next to Near. "Do you like what you see?"

Near could not say a word. His throat only gagged multiple times, and it threatened to unleash a torrent of liquid and solid fluids.

Light tilted his head to get a better look at Near's face. "Right now the muscles in your throat are contracting so that you don't choke on the substance that many call a certain name…vomit. This leaves your trachea vulnerable…" Light jabbed Near in the throat, causing Near to slump forward onto the carpet floor. "…so that I can give you just enough pain for you to black out."

Near's whole body jerked and wobbled. Craning his neck, Near focused on Light. He could only utter, "You little- " before his head dropped back down, chin cushioning his landing. Near's eyes stared unseeingly at the bodies of Light's sister and mother.

Near opened his eyes. Groaning, he tried to get up and found that he could move freely. _What? _As he sat up, a small thud! alarmed him, yet, when he glanced around, he could see nothing that could have made the sound. A boy who seemed to be his age appeared out of nowhere and walked up to Near with a smile on his face. He spoke, "Well Near? What did you think?"

Near mumbled, not knowing what to say, finally let out, "I don't…I don't know. I don't know what you are talking….about…"

Instead of frowning as Near expected, the boy's grin widened into a smirk. For a second Near almost thought he saw a red gleam in the boy's eye. Then it disappeared and Near became relieved, as the light had frightened him.

"My name is Light, Near. I called your parents earlier, so they should be coming around soon. They sounded worried…perhaps you should have stayed at home?"

Light Yagami shrugged. "Oh well. To pass the time, I'll tell a little story I always tell my niece when I visit her." Light leaned closer and whispered, "What I am going to tell you right now is purely made up and hypothetical, but it's a good tale…" He winked.

"Once upon a time, there were two boys. One was stupid beyond measure, and the other was smart beyond measure. Yet somehow, the dumb one always foiled the intelligent one's plans." At this, the boy named Light seemed to clench his fists, but when Near blinked, they were not clenched.

Light continued, "Until the day that the intelligent and wise boy cooked up a very wise and intelligent plan: he would remove the dumb boy's memories of him. Then the dumb child would never try and stop the smart man from becoming the god of this new world, for he would have no reason at all to do so. The plan worked. And as the dumb boy released his last memory of ever meeting or fighting against the smart boy, the smart man rose to be an emperor…and went on to rule the entire world."

Light smiled.

Near felt cold without knowing why.

Pounding suddenly startled Near, and he got up in a flash.

Realizing it was probably someone knocking the door, he relaxed, if only slightly. Near looked to Light questioningly. Light nodded his assent. "That should be your parents."

Light's smile filled his whole face, and his gleaming white teeth appeared to be sharp points at the end. "Why don't you answer it?"


	8. A Hopeless Escape

Near opened the door.

When he first saw it, he thought he had been transported to a different location entirely. Any landmarks he could have used to figure out where he was were obscured by the people who were milling about in front of the house Near had just woken up in.

Many of the people in the crowd were teenagers and kids, who all looked excited and apprehensive, like they had been waiting a long time for something and were about to obtain it.

They held signs with markings that Near couldn't make out.

Their eyes gleamed, their faces were masks that hid the entirety of their emotions, as if they knew a secret the rest of the world didn't. Near couldn't put a finger on his feelings, but he thought he felt unease. He didn't have a clue why.

Only the adults seemed nervous.

The man who had knocked on the door (he was one of the few men) yelled at Near the second he saw him. "What the heck have you done! We trusted you and put our hopes in you, L!"

He grabbed Near by his shirt, not noticing the grinning Light in the background behind Near.

"And then you revealed your true visage, dropped your disguise, and showed us all! You showed us that we were fools this entire time. You showed us that we shouldn't have believed you." Then the man quieted, his face lowering. Near swore he could see the glimmer of a tear in his eyes. "You showed us that you were KIRA."

Upon hearing this, Near looked around, his head whipping back and forth, and he began to show a panic that caused him to sweat.

The man didn't notice. Looking back up, he seemed to beg Near as he said, "Please…if you just come with us…." He gulped. "If you just come with us, we promise you will be okay and nothing will happen to you. Absolutely nothing."

_Kira? Who is this Kira he is speaking of?_ Near wondered, scared.

_And why is this man so…afraid? Of me?_

Unbeknownst to all of them, Light took out a rectangular black notebook that stank of death and casually started writing in it. Once his pen strokes ceased, he looked up, expectant.

Near tried to reassure the man, "I don't know what you're talking about, but I won't hurt you. I would never hurt somebody."

Another man, this one more cocky and with a red tinge on his cheeks (he was probably drunk) pushed past the man who had spent the last couple of minutes interrogating Near and grabbed Near by the collar of his shirt.

Near stumbled, unaware of the chaos that was about to occur.

The man rotated around so that he was facing the crowd. He brandished Near, raving, "This man!"

All of the teenagers stood at attention to witness this new development. They had been standing outside for a while holding signs, so anything slightly interesting was like eye-candy to them. Near could see now that the signs blared, "DOWN WITH KIRA!" "NEAR THE CLOWN FOOLED US ALL!" and "WHY DEBATE? DESTROY NATE!

Near gasped_. They know my name! How? I've kept that a secret for my whole life, ever since I entered Wammy's with…_Near held his forehead, overwhelmed by sudden visions that flooded his eyesight. One was a man with heavy eyebags.

Near cried out at the pain that drowned out all the others.

The man shook him roughly. "Shut up! Anyway. This man. He tricked us! We thought he was on our side. But then we find out that he was chasing some boy he believed to be Kira. A boy! We should have known when we found out that he was chasing a boy that he was impersonating L. The great L, may he rest in peace, would never chase after someone so clearly uncapable of such atrocities. Not only was the boy innocent, but Near killed many people – guilty of no crimes, by the way – to try and catch the boy. We all saw the tapes."

The crowd nodded, looking at each other knowingly.

The man uttered the following words menacingly: "What do you all say to his feats of idiocy? Do you approve, or hate, him?"

The crowd looked like they were salivating when they collectively shouted, "HATE!" Many held their signs up as they yelled, for they were so excited.

Near cowered at this sight, scared about what might happen. His analytical mind processed how events could play out, and none of them ended well. As the man continued to work the crowd to a frenzy with his words, Near frantically looked for an avenue of escape.

Finally feeling the man's grip loosen on his shirt, Near tore free and ran for the stairs in the house. Climbing them, he tried to ignore the cries of anger that were issued as they saw him leave, and they all roared.

Light smiled before closing himself into an adjacent room, unnoticed. His plan was almost complete. The endgame was near.

_Near…I've won._


	9. The Angry Confrontation

_The individual who loses ownership of the Death Note will also lose their memory of the usage of the Death Note and any events closely linked to the usage of the Death Note, before or after gaining ownership. _

_That was the rule I took advantage of to win. _

_The Death Note I allowed Near to have was fake, but the cover was real. That way, I could wipe his memory of my "rising from the dead." Furthermore, he would not be able to kill me even if he wanted to, yet I could kill those I wished would die. This also allowed me to frame him. Now everyone believes he impersonated L so that he could continue his reign as KIRA. Everyone hates him._

Light thought to himself, _However,_ _this is not enough. I'm changing the strategy for my endgame. It was humiliating that Near was so close to catching me. That dumb Mikami…where was his brain? I want Near to feel the hatred and helplessness I felt when he almost won. Then he will truly know the meaning of sorrow._

Near dashed across the roof of the house. He had lost the protesters by leaping from and to other houses, fleeing for his life.

He tripped as he landed on another roof, almost falling back, but he steadied himself and ran on. Bullets of memories hit him hard, and it was a wonder he could walk, much less run. He climbed down the ladder like it was hanging off the Grand Canyon and landed on the ground with trouble.

_A mansion, gleaming in the evening sun._

_A sign. _

_It said, The Wammy House._

Seeing a warehouse that he deduced was empty (through a lack of noise and equipment out front), Near looked either way, searching for fast and furious protesters, and, upon seeing none, ran across the open ground towards it.

_Near as a child, being comforted by….a man named…..Watari?_

Near found himself huddled in the corner of the empty warehouse, attempting to stave off the painful memories. They hurt his brain, burning a hole in his cerebral cortex. He didn't want them, didn't need them, want, them, want, need, didn't, go away!

Near cried out as another onslaught of fresh memories dove at his vulnerable psyche.

_Himself in a classroom._ _All of the desks and chairs were hand-me-downs from schools that either closed or didn't need them anymore. He was surrounded by kids, and there was organized chaos. _

Near smiled slightly before crying once again from sadness. _His friend was gone. Watari said that A was at a better place, but Near didn't believe him. How would Near go on after A had left him?_

When the memories finally faded, Near looked up from his tear-stained collared shirt and saw that night had fallen. He sniffed, then thought, _I need a place to stay. I have to get past this chaos and figure out what's going on. _

He got up and limped over to the only door of the warehouse. Near was about to exit when he saw a man walk by. He stopped. _What's that protester doing here? _The man who had pleaded for Near to come with him was wandering around with a gun in his hand. His face had a hard, angry cast to it, replacing the almost terrified expression he had worn before at the house. That expression before had been fabricated.

Or was it?

"Sir, the response team will have a briefing on the mission in twenty minutes. As you know, we all agreed on the coordinates and time of the mission, so the only matter that needs to be cleared up is how the mission will be presented to America and the Japanese."

"I shall handle that. Thank you, you are dismissed."

With a bow, the Chief of Staff left.

Light finished writing in the Death Note and beheld his work. He read, **_Kiyonori Sasakawa. Dies of a heart attack in a ditch after attempting to kill Nate River on the third of June in the year 2001._**

Near ducked his head back into the warehouse, then looked back outside, this time low on the ground. The man was still there, glancing around. He stalked this way and that, craning his neck for view of someone. It seemed like he was searching for someone…someone he was angry with.

_Wouldn't that be me?_ Near realized.

_Of course. Perhaps he was concealing his anger earlier in order to win my trust. He was probably planning on getting me out of the house and then letting the crowd have their way with me. This protester is dangerous, not only because he's older and has had more time to develop muscle, but he's also cunning as well._

Near smiled. _But I can handle him easily. In situations like these, I'm starting to like the fact that Watari enrolled me in tae kwon do classes._

Ignoring the pain that had erupted in his mind at the word Watari, Near walked towards the male protester.


End file.
